commonplace
Americanadjective
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ordinary; undistinguished or uninteresting; without individuality.
a commonplace person.
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trite; hackneyed; platitudinous.
a commonplace remark.
noun
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a well-known, customary, or obvious remark; a trite or uninteresting saying.
- Synonyms:
- stereotype, platitude, bromide, cliché
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anything common, ordinary, or uninteresting.
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Archaic. a place or passage in a book or writing noted as important for reference or quotation.
adjective
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ordinary; everyday
commonplace duties
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dull and obvious; trite
commonplace prose
noun
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something dull and trite, esp a remark; platitude; truism
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a passage in a book marked for inclusion in a commonplace book, etc
-
an ordinary or common thing
Related Words
Commonplace, banal, hackneyed, stereotyped, trite describe words, remarks, and styles of expression that are lifeless and uninteresting. Commonplace characterizes thought that is dull, ordinary, and platitudinous: commonplace and boring. Something is banal that seems inane, insipid, and pointless: a heavy-handed and banal affirmation of the obvious. Hackneyed characterizes something that seems stale and worn out through overuse: a hackneyed comparison. Stereotyped emphasizes the fact that situations felt to be similar invariably call for the same thought in exactly the same form and the same words: so stereotyped as to seem automatic. Trite describes something that was originally striking and apt, but which has become so well-known and been so commonly used that all interest has been worn out of it: true but trite.
Other Word Forms
- commonplacely adverb
- commonplaceness noun
- uncommonplace adjective
Etymology
Origin of commonplace
1525–35; translation of Latin locus commūnis, itself translation of Greek koinòs tópos
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The lawsuit is just the latest legal battle for the Alphabet-owned company, which has been rapidly expanding across California, making the white, driverless vehicles more commonplace.
From Los Angeles Times
Video interviews conducted by AI are not yet commonplace.
From BBC
Rather, their magnetism lies in their depiction of the commonplace—butchered meats, pastry chefs, rowhouses—as strange and surprising, even extraordinary.
Migration to Thailand for work is commonplace, and thousands of Laotian students head overseas each year, drawn by international education and better job prospects.
From Barron's
Former Police Commissioner Ray Kelly says there was a time when “police families were fairly commonplace” in the NYPD.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
